From One War to a New Adventure
by alexwithaz
Summary: Harry thought being pushed through the veil would mean he would be bored for all his immortal life. He didn't expect to find a madman and his granddaughter and travel through time and space. He didn't even suspect that he would find love but, well, does anyone?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**I'm writing this from the very beginning because it seems to me that most of the Doctor romance stories start from the new series. What are none of the old doctors good enough? Ok yes doctors 1 and 3 are old but should that offer a perfect opportunity for the character to understand the Doctor especially 3 since he's exiled on Earth. Anyway isn't it the personality/mind of the Doctor the character supposed to like not what he looks like (I admit that the new series Doctors are good looking). So those looking for a quick one look love you shouldn't read this because it's going to take a while. However those that have only seen the new series it can give you an idea of what the classic series was like.**

~0~

Harry didn't think that the feeling of crossing from one dimensions time-stream to another would be so... natural. It was as easy as walking through a door, well a veil like door but for something that was supposed to be like a death sentence to a wizard/witch it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He thought there would be some pain that would indicate when an average wizard/witch would die (Harry being the Master of Death however would not get this death) and the he would be stuck in the eternal nothingness. Although to be fair, Harry didn't know the veil was a time travelling dimension hopping machine.

So after being pushed through the veil in the Ministry of Magic because they through his immortality was due to him making some sort of deal with the devil with really old magic (sometimes Harry really did wonder if they even knew that it wasn't the middle ages anymore), Harry appeared in... what looked like an old documentary of London that he had to watch in primary school. The cars were worse than Mr Weasley's old Ford and the clothing was less chaotic than it was back home. Harry was relatively glad that the Hallows had fused with his body so he didn't have to get his cloak out to turn invisible, which was the first thing he did.

Perhaps being in a war meant that people were more practical, even at the age of 17 (almost 18!), so the first thing Harry did was find out where he was, even if he had a fairly good idea and that toy shop across the road looked rather fun. Walking past that rather fun looking toy shop he went to the news agents to look at the newspaper. London, July 1963. Well at least he had the moon landing to look forward to.

~0~

Harry spent all of July looking for any sign of the magic community. There wasn't one. First he had tried to get into the Ministry of Magic via the telephone boxes. It didn't work (he did thing of trying to floo in but then remembered that he had no floo powder on him, luckily he realised that before getting into the fire). Then he apparated to the site in Scotland where Hogwarts should have been. The only thing there was a museum on the castle that once stood there. He even tried looking for the other magic schools but they were also nonexistent. So he came to the logical conclusion that either the magic community was really, well hidden enough that only those brought into it by the magical community could find it or this was a magic free world, well magic free apart from Harry.

So because he didn't think a couple of NEWTS or OWLS would get him anywhere on a résumé apart from maybe a zoo or pet shop he decided to go back to school. However because of his age he had to cast an illusion on himself to make him appear younger, he only had the muggle education of an 11 year old but could probably get away with being 15 if he worked hard before September. Using the logical method to throwing darts at a list of schools ending up on Coal Hill School where, upon arriving, Harry would meet one Susan Foreman and start a new legend...


	2. An Unearthly Child

**An Unearthly Child**

**The grammar and spelling has now been edited.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Doctor Who**

~0~

As Harry approached Coal Hill School he couldn't help but marvel at how muggle the school was. No carts pulled by what seemed to be nothing (well it looked like nothing if you hadn't seen death), no boats that moved on command and Harry doubted that the school would have moving stairs unless they had escalators. Luckily for Harry muggles aren't as secretive as wizards so the school office was easily spotted due to signs, it was a lot easier than it would of been for a muggle to find what used to be Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts before he died.

It was in the office that Harry first met Susan Foreman. The office itself wasn't all that spectacular and nether was how Harry met Susan and looking back Harry would even say it was embarrassingly normal but perhaps that's what makes it stick out in Harry's mind. With all the strange and amazing things that were going to happen to Harry it could be seen and amazingly normal for both Susan and Harry.

The woman in the office was a harsh looking woman however Harry having had Professor McGonagall for a teacher and head of house was unaffected by the woman's glare at his scruffy suit that he had even though there wasn't a set out uniform. Anyway it wasn't his fault that no matter what, his suit always became scruffy, no matter how many time he tried to keep the suit tucked in and dirt free. Also how on Earth was he supposed to breathe with his top button done up and the tie covering it? In was more mad that Mad Eye!

"Name?" asked the woman in the office. Eugh! Her voice set Harry's teeth on edge.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied. There wasn't any point in coming up with any aliases since this world seemed magic free. "I'm here for my time table," he explained hoping to speed the process up.

"Ah yes, here you go," she said while giving him a sheet of paper that was set out much like his time table at Hogwarts was, just with different subject names and a shorter break and lunch period.

"Thank you," Harry said before trying to make a quick getaway. Even if Harry may have been a war hero it didn't mean his defences were always up, he wasn't Mad Eye Moody, so it was for this reason that he walked (backwards mind you) into the pixie like body of one Susan Foreman. With quick reflexes that had been gained from war and quidditch he turned around a caught Susan before she could fall and hurt herself. "I'm so sorry," he exclaimed.

"Oh that's alright, neither of us was looking was looking where they were going so it was inevitable we would hit something eventually," she replied before adding as an afterthought, "I'm Susan Foreman by the way. I'm new to the school."

"Guess that makes two of us then. I'm Harry, Harry Potter," Harry said before asking, "since we're both new how about I wait for you to get your time table and then we can both try to work out where we're supposed to go."

"Thank you!" Susan said while grinning and turning to the woman in the office. Watching Susan walk away Harry couldn't help but ponder the look in her eye that had been similar to Luna's in that it seemed she knew things you didn't however unlike Luna's hers also held intelligence.

"So we all set then?" Harry asked when she returned.

"Yes, who have you got for a tutor?" Susan asked him looking up for her time table.

"Hm? Oh right let's see..." Harry searched his paper before spotting a name at the top of the sheet, "a Mr. Woodward."

"Oh this is great we both have the same. They must have wanted to put all the new kids in the same place to make them feel more comfortable." Susan explained.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "Now I don't know about you but I am horrible at directions. At my old school I was always getting lost and I had to live there! So please tell me you're good at directions," he said before looking at her with what Hermione had dubbed his "puppy eyes". Susan laughed before replying with a positive.

~0~

It was now November 22nd and few months since that humble beginning in September. Harry and Susan had become the closest of friends. It didn't matter to Harry that Susan was a bit odd and would be brilliant at some things and absolutely horrible at the simplest things. To Susan it didn't matter that Harry would sometimes say strange things and pull pranks on others. She supposed that Harry was what you would call a true friend since he stuck with her even though he the hottest person in the school (in her opinion and most of the girl population), captain of the football team and she was the strangest kid, captain of the odd squad, population 1. It was for this reason that she had been trying for so long to get her Grandfather to allow her to show Harry their home, the TARDIS.

Susan and Harry had just finished their History lesson with Miss Wright (which in Harry's opinion was a lot better than those at Hogwarts) and were collecting there things together.

"Oh Harry I can't wait to show you my home. It took me so long convince Grandfather to let you come," Susan said excitedly. Harry laughed.

"Calm down Susan. If you get too excited you might just faint and then I won't be able to come over," Harry joked while Susan blushed.

"I can't help it. I just cannot wait to see your face when you see it. I'm sure you'll love it." Susan explained calmer than before however Harry could see she was still practically vibrating with excitement not that he wasn't himself, he was just better at hiding it. Susan had refused to tell him about her home since he had first asked to see it. It wasn't just her home he was excited to see, there was also her Grandfather who he had yet to meet. Susan had made him out to be a man after his own heart of childish acts and sang such high praise of him it was often hard to tell if she was talking about her Grandfather or some old hero.

"Wait in here, please, Susan. I won't be long," Miss Wright said from outside the door. Harry turned to Susan confused.

"Why does Miss Wright want to see you?" he asked her.

"Oh, she has a book I want to read," she explained.

"Another book," Harry exclaimed, "blimey Susan you read as much as my old friend and a whole lot quicker." He flashed a charming grin, "Do you want me to wait in here with you or at the front gate?"

"Oh, will you stay with me please," she asked.

"Anything for you my dear," Harry replied with a dramatic bow. "Now let's see..." he said looking around for something. Harry disappeared behind Miss Wright's desk before reappearing with a "aha!"

"What have you got there Harry?" Susan asked peering at the electronic device that Harry held proudly in one hand.

"This, little Susan is a transistor radio," Harry explained before turning it on to John Smith and the Common Men. Harry would often call Susan little due to her pixie like looks and he towered her at 6"5'. He held his hand out to her for a dance. "Care for a dance madam?"

"Why sir I would," she replied before grabbing his hand to be pulled into a playful dance that didn't fit with the piece of music at all.

~0~

Ian Chesterton was currently writing up work in his science room after last period when Barbara Wright entered. He turned to look at her before going back to his clipboard.

"Not gone yet?" he asked he politely while she walked around his room.

"Obviously not," she replied a tad rudely however it was unintended.

"Right, ask a silly question," Ian answered with a smile Barbara stopped in front of the chalk board. She realised she had come off a bit rude towards the other teacher.

"I'm sorry," she replied sincerely.

"That's all right. I'll forgive you this time," Ian replied. He looked up to see her coming towards him before he turned back to him clipboard.

"Oh, I had a terrible day. I don't know what to make of it," Barbara explained while sitting down at the desk with Ian. She placed a book she had picked up on the desk next to her.

"Oh, what's the trouble? Can I help?" Ian asked automatically without looking up. Barbara looked at the hand she had placed on the desk to make sure it was still clean. You never could be too sure with these science rooms. It was one of the reasons she decided to teacher history, the dirtiest you could get was some dust from an old book.

"Oh, it's one of the girls, Susan Foreman," Barbara replied. Ian looked up. He was intrigued.

"Susan Foreman? She your problem too?" he sympathised with a slight laugh. "At least she doesn't act like that friend of hers Harry. I don't know if I could take two of them."

"God help us all if that happens," Barbara said. "Susan's just..."

"You don't know what to make of her?" Ian finished for her.

"No," she answered. Ian smiled, happy that he wasn't the only puzzled by the strange girl, Susan Foreman.

"How old is she Barbara?" Ian asked even though he knew she was either fifteen or sixteen since she was in his year 11 class.

"Fifteen," Barbara replied. She'd checked with the office to make sure the girl hadn't been held back a year because there was nowhere else for her to go. It happened sometimes, currently there was a boy in year 8 that should have been in year 9 but there hadn't been enough room when he joined late. It didn't happen often but on some occasions...

"Fifteen. She lets her knowledge out a bit at a time so as not to embarrass me," Ian said good naturedly. "That's what I feel about her. She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius. Is that what she's doing with history?"

"Something like that," Barbara answered with a smile.

"So your problem is whether to stay in business or to hand over the class to her," Ian joked.

"No, not quite," Barbara said to Ian's surprise.

"What, then?" he asked.

"Ian, I must talk to someone about this, but I don't want to get the girl into trouble. And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things," Barbara replied seriously.

"No, I'm not," he said defensively.

"Well, I told you how good she is at history. I had a talk with her and told her she ought to specialise. Well, she seemed quite interested until I said I'd be willing to work with her at her home. Then she said that would be absolutely impossible as her grandfather didn't like strangers," Barbara explained

"He's a Doctor isn't he? That's a bit of a lame excuse," Ian said before remembering, "isn't Harry Potter supposed to be going to her home today anyway, Susan's was chatting all through class about it to him. First time I've ever had to tell her to be quiet in class." He walked around the desk to wash his hands in the sink at the end.

"Well, I didn't pursue the point but then recently her homework's been so bad," Barbara added seeing that she might have someone on her side. She got up to stand next to Ian.

"Yes, I know," Ian replied with a sigh.

"Finally I got so irritated with all her excuses I decided to have a talk with this grandfather of hers and tell him to take some interest in her," Barbara said strictly as if the man was there with her.

"Did you indeed? And what's the old boy like?" he asked amused at her attitude.

"Well, that's just it. I got her address from the secretary, 76 Totter's Lane, and I went along there one evening," she said while Ian when to dry his hands with a towel. "Oh Ian, do pay attention."

"Sorry. You went along there one evening?" he said keeping an eye on Barbara the whole time. She followed him round to the end of the desk.

"There isn't anything there. It's just an old junkyard," she finished.

"You must have gone to the wrong place," Ian dismissed.

"Well, that was the address the secretary gave me," Barbara pointed out.

"The secretary got it wrong, then," Ian replied to her foolishness.

"No. I checked. There's a big wall on one side, houses on the other and nothing in the middle. And this nothing in the middle is number 76 Totter's Lane." Barbara was beginning to lose her temper with Ian and started to explain it as if talking to a child.

"Hmm. That's a bit of a mystery. Well, there must be a simple answer somewhere." Ian couldn't get to grips with why she was making it out to be a big thing, the family might have just written the wrong address on the application form or the secretary read it incorrectly.

"Well what?" Barbara said giving up on the man.

"Well, we'll have to find out for ourselves, won't we?" he said hoping to pacify the woman.

"Thank you for the we. She's waiting in one of the classrooms. I'm lending her a book on the French Revolution." Barbara said.

"What's she going to do, rewrite it?" Ian joked. "Oh, all right. What do we do? Ask her point-blank?" he said seriously.

"No, I thought we could drive there, wait till she arrives and see where she goes." Barbara said reasonably. "She'll have Harry with her anyway so will go the direct way."

"Oh, all right," Ian conceded.

"That is if you're not doing anything," she said as an afterthought.

"No, I'm not. After you," Ian laughed opening the door for her before following her out.

~0~

Harry and Susan were still dancing when Ian and Barbara entered. They were laughing and it was only the shutting of the door that caused them to notice they weren't alone anymore. Susan jumped back embarrassed while Harry only gave a lazy grin to the two teachers.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Wright. I didn't hear you coming in. Aren't they fabulous?" Susan said a rush.

"Who?" Barbara asked confused. Susan had a habit of not explaining things when she was embarrassed.

"It's John Smith and the Common Men. They've gone from nineteen to two." Harry explained his grin widened when he saw the teachers nod in understanding.

"John Smith is the stage name of the Honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn't he, Harry?" Ian asked the boy.

"Wow, Mr Chesterton, didn't expect you to know anything outside the world of science," Harry joked and was rewarded with the roll of the eyes.

"I have an enquiring mind. And a very sensitive ear," Ian explained while also prompting them to turn off the music.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said reaching for the radio and turning it off.

"Thank you."

"Is that the book you promised me?" Susan asked Barbara.

"Yes," She replied reaching out to give the book to Susan. However the book was snatched up by Harry before Susan could get it.

"French Revolution," Harry exclaimed. "Blimey Susan why on Earth would you want to learn about the French?"

"Maybe if you read it yourself you'd find out," Susan said taking the open book from Harry's hands. "Thank you Miss Wright. It will be interesting. I'll return it tomorrow."

"Oh, that's not necessary. Keep it until you've finished it," Barbara said.

"Oh don't worry Miss. Susan's a wiz at reading. She'll have it finished even if I spent the whole day trying to stop her." Harry said fondly.

"Oh, where do you live, Susan? I'm giving Miss Wright a lift, I've got room for two more," Ian offered the two of them.

"No, thank you, Mister Chesterton. I like walking through the dark. It's mysterious," Susan said airily, Harry thought it was rather close to what Luna sounded like.

"Be careful, there'll probably be fog again tonight," Barbara waned them both.

"Don't worry Miss. I may not be on the rugby team but that don't mean I can't pack a good punch," Harry joked. Although if they did get in danger he would just use his magic. He could trust Susan to keep it a secret and if not he would have to get rid of the memory of it.

"See you in the morning."

"I expect so. Good night." Susan replied.

"Good night"

Ian and Barbara left, leaving Harry and Susann in the room. Susan went to sit on the desk but Harry grabbed her around the shoulders before she could sit down.

"Oh no," he said, "I've had to wait all day to see your home and I'm not going to wait longer just so you can rewrite some text book," Susan tried to pout before giving up to laugh at him.

"All right," she said," But only because I can't wait either." She jumped out of his arms before grabbing his hand and practically dragging him out of the room.

~0~

"So remind me again why we are stood in front of a junk yard?" Harry asked Susan who kept looking over her shoulder like Death Eaters were on their trail. At the moment Susan and Harry were in front of the gates of I M Foreman's Scrap Merchants at 76 Totter's Lane. Susan looked over her shoulder at him this time and put her finger to her lip indicating him to be quiet before grinning and opening the door to the yard.

Inside there were old manikins, a shopping trolley, broken TV's, old clothing, a dusty mirror. However the oddest of all was a 1950's police telephone box, the light on the top was flashing so it wasn't broken. Why would it be there?

Harry followed Susan in, shutting the door behind him quietly. Susan walked straight to the police box. Reaching into the lip of her hat she pulled out a key which she then entered into the slot. Harry was quite surprised when it worked. Opening the door she beckoned him inside.

"If all you wanted was to get me into a close space with you the cupboards at school would have worked just fine," Harry joked once she had disappeared. He waited a few seconds for her reappear with an embarrassed smile. Not seeing her return he cautiously walked into the box.

The box turned out to be bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. Harry would have gone so far to say the room he was currently in (because a door led off to what appeared to be a corridor so there were more rooms) was ten times that of the outside. There was a chair, hat stand, various other pieces of furniture, and Susan standing at a six-sided console in the centre. Harry couldn't help the sigh of "magic" that left his mouth.

"No, it's science. There's no such thing as magic," Harry was seriously having to keep his mouth shut so not to argue with her. "It's dimensionally transcendental, it means the outside is smaller than the in. It's called the TARDIS, that's Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"Wow, Susan I knew you were smart but this is off the scale," Harry breathed. He walked up to the controls. They all seemed to have a place. There was a lever that reminded Harry of an old cars hand break. There were light, buttons and switches everywhere but it was all spaced out in a controlled way.

Turning to Susan he asked the first question he could think of. "Do radios work in here?" Susan laughed. To Harry though it was an important question, since coming to this time and not having to put up with stopping a war he had grown fond of music. In his old world electronic equipment didn't work because of the magic. It was for this reason that Harry didn't use his magic much because it was a pain to keep having to get a new radio.

"Oh course they would," Susan said happily. She caught Harry by surprise by hugging. She jumped back once she realised what she was doing. "Sorry it's just I expected you to be scared or angry and not want to be my friend anymore but you do and I'm just really happy."

"Hey hey what on Earth where you thinking I wouldn't want to be friends with you? This place is so cool and mugg-man made," Harry grinned at her. Susan though shifted guilty.

"Um, about that I'm not human, I'm an alien," she said nervously, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"Oh, wow," Harry said thoughtfully. He didn't even know there was life on other planets and now his new friend turned out to be one he was not expecting that. Oh well, he was a Potter and they have a habit of taking everything in their stride. "It's no weirder than one of my old professors turning out to be a werewolf."

Susan grinned again before there came the sound of a key in a lock at the door. "There you are Grandfather," Susan says without looking away from Harry. "That'll be Grandfather, I'm sure he can't wait to met you."

Susan then got him to stand by the controls facing the door with her standing next to him. After a few moments of nothing happening Susan shouts out, "what are you doing out there?"

They both hear a commotion outside and Harry subtly moved to stand in front of Susan but did not block her view to avoid suspicion. Suddenly a figure appeared in the control room however it is one that neither Harry nor Susan expected. Stood in front of the doorway looking about the place in wonder and fear was Barbara. She is soon followed by an old man in Astrakhan hat and a long scarf (which Harry guessed is Susan's Grandfather) and Ian.

"Close the door, Susan," the old man said. Susan flicked one on the switches on the control board and the doors closed with a hum. "I believe these people are known to you."

"They're two of my schoolteachers," Susan explained. She turned to Ian and Barbara, "what are you doing here?"

"Where are we?" Barbara asked in wonder however she was ignored.

"They must have followed you. That ridiculous school. I knew something like this would happen if we stayed in one place too long. It was bad enough you wanted to show this place to that stupid boy of yours," the old man said, ignoring everyone in the room apart for Susan.

"Oi, old man it doesn't matter if you are Susan Grandfather is doesn't mean you're better than us," Harry said defensively. "There are probably some things we can do better than you." He jokingly addedd at the end, "well maybe not them two, they're only teachers."

"Oh well I suppose you know how to travel in the fourth dimension do you? Hm?" the man asked patronisingly.

"Well I've only had a little expedience but I'd say you don't know how to turn one object into something entirely different?" Harry challenged. The Doctor and Harry stared at each other for a bit before the Doctor laughed and patted Harry on the back.

"The Doctor," he said holding his hand out to shake.

"Harry Potter," Harry answered and took the man's hand roughly before letting go.

"Is this really where you live Susan?" Barbara asked. She still could not comprehend how the outside was smaller than the inside, so decided to ignore that and ask the questions she wanted answering at the beginning.

"Yes," Susan answered plainly. Although on the inside she was happy that her Grandfather seemed to like Harry.

"And what's wrong with it?" the Doctor asked defensively.

"But it was just a telephone box," Ian said in disbelief.

"Perhaps," the Doctor said offhandedly.

"And this is your grandfather?" Barbara asked. The old man before her seemed far too harsh to be related to Susan although how he eventually accepted Harry may mean he didn't like strangers as Susan had said before. But he's a doctor isn't he?

"Yes"

"But why didn't you tell us that?" Barbara asked the Doctor. They had been trying to see Susan and this man had acted like he didn't know her, it was unreasonable.

"I don't discuss my private life with strangers," the Doctor said as if that explained everything.

"But it was a police telephone box. I walked all around it. Barbara, you saw me," Ian was still stuck on how the outside fitted around the in. To him it was completely impossible. It's a good thing then that the Doctor hadn't wanted a demonstration of Harry's transfiguration of he'd really have been stuck.

"You don't deserve any explanations. You pushed your way in here uninvited and unwelcome," the Doctor replied rudely.

"It's a good thing I was invited first. Wouldn't want to get on his bad side," Harry whispered in Susan's ear. She gave him a glare but Harry could see the corners of her mouth beginning to turn up.

"I think we ought to leave," Barbara said hoping to end what she felt could go very wrong for herself and Ian.

"No, just a minute. I know this is absurd, but-"Ian said but the Doctor wasn't interested, instead he was examining an ornate clock.

"Oh dear, dear, dear dear. This is very-"the Doctor said over the top of Ian.

"-I walked all round it," Ian finished.

"It's stopped again, you know, and I've tried," the Doctor mumbled before seeming to notice that Ian had been talking, "hmm? Oh, you wouldn't understand."

"But I want to understand," Ian tried to argue.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," the Doctor said offhandedly as if speaking to a child that wanted to know something they could never understand. "By the way, Susan, I managed to find a replacement for that faulty filament. It's an amateur job, but I think it'll serve."

"It's an illusion. It must be," Ian concluded.

"What is he talking about now?" the Doctor asked annoyed and the stupid man that is making it hard to think.

"What are you doing here?" Susan asked the teachers however she was ignored. Harry sighed at the situation before him. If the Doctor would just answer Ian the perhaps they would leave.

"You don't understand, so you find excuses. Illusions, indeed? You say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms," the Doctor started.

"No," Ian replied.

"But you've discovered television, haven't you?" the Doctor retorted.

"Yes," Ian replied but he didn't get how they could possibly relate to one another.

"Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen, you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?" the Doctor finished.

"Well, yes, but I still don't know," Ian stumbles over his word and Harry can't help but sympathise with the man. The Doctor is not the best teacher although it was fun to watch.

"Not quite clear, is it. I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't. Never mind. Now then, which switch was it? No. No, no. Ah yes, that is it. The point is not whether you understand. What is going to happen to you, hmm? They'll tell everybody about the ship now," the Doctor said. Harry can see that his teachers were starting to panic. So they did the logical thing and ignore the problem to focus on something else.

"Ship?" Ian asked

"Yes, yes, ship. This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know," the Doctor said and Harry can't help but grin. Muggles could odd sometimes.

"You mean it moves?" Barbara asked confused and worried.

"The TARDIS can go anywhere," Susan explained to everyone's benefit.

"Tardis? I don't understand you, Susan," Barbara stated.

"Well, I made up the name TARDIS from the initials, Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside," Susan explained as if it was obvious.

"Just let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?" Ian confirmed.

"Yes"

"Quite so"

"Yep"

"But that's ridiculous" Ian exclaimed.

"So is juggling," Harry retorted.

"Why won't they believe us?" Susan said, exasperated at the ignorance of her teachers. If Harry could believe why couldn't someone that was supposed to be smart not?

"Now, now, don't get exasperated, Susan. Remember the Red Indian. When he saw the first steam train, his savage mind thought it an illusion, too," the Doctor tried to explain.

"You're treating us like children," Ian stated and Harry was sure that he was very close to pouting at the Doctor. The Doctor however wasn't looking and was taking off his coat and scarf, putting them on the cloak stand.

"Am I? The children of my civilisation would be insulted," he replied, like someone in an insult match.

"Your civilisation?" Ian caught onto the odd piece of information in his insult.

"Yes, my civilisation. I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it. Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day," the Doctor trailed off in thought.

"It's true. Every word of it's true. You don't know what you've done coming in here. Grandfather, let them go now, please. Look, if they don't understand, they can't, they can't hurt us at all. I understand these people better than you. Their minds reject things they don't understand," Susan saai trying to get her Grandfather to spare anything he has in store for the humans.

"No," the Doctor replied plainly.

"You can't keep us here," Ian argued.

"Susan, listen to me. Can't you see that all this is an illusion? It's a game that you and your grandfather are playing, if you like, but you can't expect us to believe it, and you can't expect so mush of Harry," Barbara tried to convince Susan as she was another woman and so should a weak link.

"It's not a game," Susan shouted back, now annoyed at her teachers for destroying what could have been a good day.

"But Susan it's-"

"It's not! Look, I love your school. I loved England in the twentieth century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life," Susan said, trying to explain to the ignorant adults.

"But you are one of us. You look like us, you sound like us," Barbara argued back.

"I was born in another time, another world," Susan started.

"Wait, wait," Harry interjected. "I knew you were born on another planet but another time? Is there anything I know about you true?"

"No Harry!" Susan said worried, it was bad enough that Mr Chesterton and Miss Wright didn't believe her and her Grandfather but to lose Harry's trust? That would be horrid! "I promise those are the only lies I ever told you, please believe me." Harry turned away from her, perhaps you can't trust anyone...

"Now look here, Susan, you. Oh, come on, Barbara, let's get out of here," Ian said, fed up on the lack of answers he got from the old man or Susan.

"It's no use, you can't get out. He won't let you go," Susan said flatly. She already knew that it was no use.

"She closed the doors from over there. I saw her. Now, which is it? Which is it? Which control operates the door?" Ian said, approaching the controls and looking at all of them. None of them though, look like the one Susan used to close the doors.

"You still think it's all an illusion?" Harry asked Ian curiously.

"I know that free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard," Ian explained to Harry. The Doctor scoffed.

"Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance," the Doctor stated.

"Will you open the door? Open the door! Susan, will you help us?" Ian begged, getting desperate to be out of this mad house.

"I mustn't" Susan said flatly.

"Very well, then. I'll have to risk it myself," Ian said, looking over all the controls.

"I can't stop you," the Doctor said casually. Harry could see the amusement in his eyes though. Harry wasn't worried, well not much, he's not in the right dimension or time anyway so what's a little adventure, it's better than school anyway.

"Don't touch it! It's live!" Susan shouted, worriedly as Ian reached for a switch and got a shock. Harry's hadn't looked away from the Doctor and noticed the grin the man is suppressing.

"Ian! What on earth do you think you're doing?" Barbara exclaimed, worriedly.

"Grandfather, let them go now, please," Susan begged the man.

"And by tomorrow we shall be a public spectacle, a subject for news and idle gossip," the Doctor argued back.

"But they won't say anything," Susan replied.

"And who wants to hear about old men and what they get up to in their spare time anyway," Harry added.

"My dears, of course they will. Put yourself in their place. They are bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities or at the very least talk to their friends. If I do let them go, Susan, you realise of course we must go, too," the Doctor reminded Susan. Susan looked horrified at the prospect.

"No, Grandfather, we've had all this out before," she tried to convince him.

"There's no alternative, child," the Doctor said.

"Come on Doc! Don't you think your being a bit harsh," Harry interjects. "If worse comes to worse I can make sure they can't say anything. You can't just take Susan away, it's not fair on her. At least give her a choice!" Finally Harry was sticking up for what he thought was a friend, it's not like he'd been entirely truthful himself.

"I want to stay! But they're both kind people. Why won't you trust them? All you've got to do is ask them to promise to keep our secret. If Harry can do I'm sure they can too," Susan was getting desperate now.

"It's out of the question," the Doctor replied.

"I won't go, Grandfather. I won't leave the twentieth century. I'd rather leave the TARDIS and you," Susan said childishly.

"Now you're being sentimental and childish," the Doctor sighed at attachment the girl had gotten in the few months of their time there.

"It's not her fault if she grew up around people like you," Harry said angrily

"No, I mean it," Susan said with finality.

"Very well. Then you must go with them. I'll open the door," the Doctor said as he started to move around the consol to what Ian and Barbara hoped was the switch for opening the door.

"Are you coming Susan, Harry?" Barbara said, as they started toward the door. However behind them the sound of mechanical movement started and not from the doors opening.

"Oh, no, Grandfather! No!" Susan shouted and tried to stop her Grandfather by grabbing his arms. Harry seeing this tried to help as well.

"Let me go," the Doctor said trying to get out of his Granddaughter and her friends grip.

"No!"

"What do you eat?" Harry asked rhetorically, surprised at the strength of the old man. Surely Harry wasn't that unfit in the few months since he had come to this dimension?

Ian and Barbara were thrown from side to side. The Doctor, Susan and Harry hung onto the console. Eventually Barbara landed in the chair and Ian on the floor. The TARDIS headed into the vortex with a lot of noise, almost deafening to those not used to it. Eventually it all stopped and unnoticed to the occupants of the ship on the scanner a shadow of a humanoid appears on the desolate, sandy land outside...

**Next time: The Cave of Skulls**


	3. The Cave of Skulls

**The Cave of Skulls**

**I am so sorry it has been so long since I posted but I've had loads I've had to do and I'm still getting used to it all. I've been working for loads of exams and just when I think I can take a break I've got more. There is just so much, plus working as a beaver leader (like a scout leader), Duke of Edinburgh award work, doing judo and taekwondo-do. Most of my time at home I'm either revising or sleeping. However exams all finished now! Might be able to update quicker now...**

**I've read it through again like suggested and edited the mistakes I could see in this chapter and the previous.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Doctor Who**

~0~

_Ian and Barbara were thrown from side to side. The Doctor, Susan and Harry hung on to the console. Eventually Barbara landed in the chair and Ian on the floor. The TARDIS headed into the vortex with a lot of noise, almost deafening those not used to it. Eventually it all stopped and unnoticed to the occupants of the ship on the scanner a shadow of a humanoid appears on the desolate, sandy land outside..._

~0~

The land was bleak and rocky, rimmed by distant sharp notched mountains. A long broad river sluggishly ran through them in to a small plain in the centre of the mountains that was fringed by a deep, dense impenetrable forest. There was a set of caves in the foot hills of one of the tall mountains, and it was there a Tribe had made their home.

They were fortunate in many ways. Once there were wild beasts in the caves but were driven out, the caves where both warm and dry in the winters and cool in the hot summer days. A short ways away was the long winding river so they had plenty of water and berries and fruit could be found in the woods.

Many hunters could find game in the forest while the women looked for the berries with the others where look outs. Savage beasts provided both food to fill their bellies and warm skin for the winters that came and gone or is to come. If the Tribe could kill them before they fall victims to the beasts, many men in the past had been killed in an effort to prove themselves to the tribe.

There was a tall, dark haired man named Kal. He was a new comer to the small tribe that made their home amongst the caves. He was by far the best hunter amongst them. He was patient and very cunning especially with words. Kal never come home empty, that alone placed him in their good graces and they gave him their acceptance.

It happened that as he was following tracks that day at the edge of the forest that he saw a miracle. There was a wheezing groaning roar like sound in the air quite unlike any that came come from the beasts. With caution he peered from the edge of the forest where he was hiding and saw a strange blue shape appear from thin air.

Many people from the tribe would have fled in terror, but not Kal. Kal was more intelligent than the others, and with that came curiosity. Although his heart was pounding hard like it was about to burst from his chest he stayed where he was, watching and waiting. Waiting to see what the blue shape would do. This was what a leader should do, work for the tribe and not waste their time with fruitless efforts.

Kal wanted more than just acceptance from his new Tribe. He wanted power, the power of being leader. He wanted to be able to run the Tribe like he wanted it to be run and have Hur, the most beautiful maiden that he's seen and the most beautiful maiden among the tribe women. And he wanted to kill Za, son of the old chief his only serious rival in both the tribe and in love.

He stared at it hungrily as he tugged at his short brown jutting beard. Here was something new, something that so far he only had seen. His mind scheming, looking for ways to use this new thing to his own advantage. If there was magic here he would harness it for himself and make it work for no one but himself.

~0~

Back in the largest cave that housed most of the Tribe members, they were waiting for magic as that watched Za. A tall, tan man with should length brown hair with a matching beard sat crossed-legged before a pile of ashes and chard wood of a long dead fire. The others were gathered around him in a large circle. Men and boys, women and small children, all watching intently as he plunged his hands in to the ashes, gripping at the charred, blackened fragments of wood that broke under his tight grip, his face was twisted in concentration, his muscled form knotted up in strain. As if sheer determination would force the dead wood to do his will.

But they remained the same, cold and dead. No fire.

A slender dark girl sat by his left side produced a carved rattle made of bone. It was old and holy amongst the tribesmen, there was a low gasp of awe as the woman known as Hur shook it angrily at the ashes before Za took it and shook it with hot angry before tossing it to the side to be able to plunge his hands back in to the ashes. Nothing happened, Za's shoulders slumped in despair.

A little ways away from the group sitting by a few large rocks sat and old skeletal, gray-haired woman. She was known as Old mother

According to the customs of the Tribe, she should have been cast out like all the other tribe people who became too old and left to die on her own in the wild rather by beast or another tribe. But she was kept alive and with the Tribe.

She despised Za, nothing he did was good enough for her, everything was wrong with him. Za would make a good chief if the softness wasn't there. His father would be ashamed.

"Where is the fire that Za made," she cackled.

Hur, the dark skinned girl was always quick to come to Za's defence. "Fire is in his hands, Old Mother. It will not go in to the wood."

Like all other days this was just the same Old Mother would talk down to Za and Hur would come to his defence. Za ignored the two as he scowled down at the ashes. "My father made fire."

Old Mother turned to him and muttered. "So he did and he died for it."

"My father died hunting," growled Za angrily at the woman.

"Gor was a great hunter. I never saw a beast that could destroy him. He angered God by making fire."

Za sat there and stared at her angrily. "He taught me how to make sharp stones for the spears and axes. He taught me how to make and set traps for large animals such as the big teeth cats and bears. He would have taught me how to make fire, if the beast hadn't killed him."

"So that everyone would bow to you as they did him." Old Mother sneered. But she knew he spoke the truth. The secret of fire making was a close kept secret that was well guarded, handed down from father to son, chief to chief.

Gor had kept the secret for as long as he could, an old enough son can be a rival for being chief. He kept promising to tell Za the secret for making fire, but he died before he could keep that promise. That is if he intended to keep it in the first place.

Now it was partly to do to being the Old Chief's son that allowed him to be the chief, but it was more due that he was the strongest amongst the warriors of the tribe. He still lacked one thing that was crucial to who could lead tribe, fire. The ability to make fire would keep all the other Tribe people in his favour.

Suddenly, Za jumped to his feet, and loomed ominously over the old woman who shrunk back close to the cave wall when she noticed the dark look and the flashing of his eyes when he stocked over to where she was sitting a few moments ago.

"Tell me what my father did to make fire!" shouted Za as he crouched over her shivering form.

"He crouched over the wood, and moved his hands as you do. But he always kept his back to me and the rest of the tribe. So I never saw how or when the fire was made. That's all I know."

"Ah, get out of my sight, old woman. You should have died with him."

Slowly Old Mother rose from the ground using the cave wall as a brace and hobbled away muttering. "The fire is gone now. Za will never be able to make it."

Za was back crouching over the pile of ashes and wood. "Throw on more of the ashes form the old fire," he ordered. "Perhaps the magic is still within them."

Hur grabbed a handful and threw it over the other ashes as Za went back gripping the sticks that weren't damaged too much, striking them together willing the magic to come alive and work again.

Crouching at his side Hur placed her lips close to his ear. "The old men talk against you. They say it would be better if Kal was made leader. They say you sit all day rubbing your hands together while he's out hunting and bringing us meat."

"Without meat we will go hungry,' said Za. "But without fire we will die when the harsh cold comes again. Without fire the beasts of the forest will come and raid the caves at night killing the women and children while we are asleep."

"The old men see no further than their bellies and the meat that feeds them. They will make Kal leader soon and my father, Horg, will give me to him"

Horg was one of the elders of the Tribe still young enough not to be cast out but old enough to have great influence with the others. Since he wasn't the strongest any more, he would support the strongest. It was the law of survival of the tribe.

"Kal!" spat Za. "Kal is no leader. It isn't so easy to be the leader."

Za knew from the stat that Kal wasn't fit to be the leader. He was ruthless and greedy, wanting everything from himself. Za took the biggest share and the kills and the best among the furs, as was his right, but he still cared for the others. Seeing that the hunting parties were in order and organized right and that even in the times of hardship the women and children were give food.

A leader must think of many things and of others.

"Kal is no leader," muttered Za again.

"The leader is the one who makes fire!" said Hur.

Za sent the pile of ash and sticks flying with a mighty sweep of his power arms. 'Where has it gone to? Where?'

~0~

Hovering over the unconscious form of Ian, Harry quickly did a healing spell he learnt from all his time in the hospital to reduce the Ian's concussion. Looking over his shoulder he rose before turning and walking back to Susan and the Doctor by the controls. Both of the aliens were keenly studying the console.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Harry asked even though he knew the answers himself. Getting into trouble in his younger days did have its advantages after all.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine," the Doctor replied offhandedly. Really the man's skull should be thick enough to protect what little of a mind he had. "Besides a little bump never hurt anyone."

Ian and Barbara both can to with a groan. Sitting up Ian rubbed his head to find a small bump behind his right ear; it was smaller than when Harry had first gone over him. Barbara, on immediately find herself still in the TARDIS, went to Ian to make sure he was alright.

"Ian? Ian are you all right?" she asked hesitantly.

"This is getting to be a habit," he muttered loud enough for her to hear. "I'm all right. I think. I must have hit my head when..." He broke off as the memory of the evening's extraordinary event came flooding back. "Well, at least we've stopped moving." Ian pulled himself back to his feet with great care. Looking around he saw Susan and the Doctor standing by the central console and Harry stand a small distance away.

Harry was feeling conflicted, on the one hand there was a great opportunity for an adventure however he was also worried about what could happen. He'd come a long from being a little boy who ran head first at three headed dogs.

"The base seems to be steady," said Susan in a quiet voice.

The Doctor nodded, checking another row of dials. "Layer of sand, and thin topsoil- nearby rock formations...good...good..."

Susan turned, smiling at Ian and Barbara when she noticed Harry chuckling. It wasn't her fault she got caught up in the moment; she'd only been on a few trips in the TARDIS before. "Are you feeling better? We've left 1963. I'm afraid."

"You really mean we're in a different year?" Harry asked excitedly. "Not just a hop, skip and a jump back to the beginning of the year but a different decade?"

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Oh yes, undoubtedly. I'll tell you where we are in a moment and when!" said the Doctor as he leaned over the console that he was still facing and rapped sharply on a dial with his knuckles. "Zero!" he said indignantly. "Zero? That can't be right. This yearometer still isn't working right, Susan."

After a moment he realized that Susan hadn't been talking to him at all, following the direction that she was looking he rolled his eyes. The two teachers still seemed to be having trouble with their surroundings.

"Oh, yes, you two!" the Doctor said, really why did they have such trouble when the younger boy was just fine. Sometimes he wondered if it wouldn't be better if human children taught their adults. "What are you doing here? You can get off the floor now, our journeys finished."

Barbara stared at him in horror. "What's happened?" She demanded. "Where are we?"

Ian pulled himself up using a chair much to the Doctor's chagrin, groaning a little as he turned and faced Barbara. "Barbara, don't tell me they're got you believing all this rubbish."

"It's true, Mr Chesterton," said Susan, "We've travelled a great distance in space and in Time look at the scanner screen!"

The Doctor sniffed as Harry joined him near the central console. "That's right, look up there!" He pointed to a small square screen suspended above the console. It showed a bleak and rocky plain that surrounded the TARDIS and an edge of what looked like a deep dark forest that's trees where bare and a few distant mountains.

"Well, there you are, young man, a new world for you."

"It's just sand and a few dead trees," sais Ian stupidly. "Sand, trees and a few rocks."

'Exactly. That's the immediate view outside the ship. There's more to see beyond the ship,' said Susan kindly. Harry put an arm around Susan's shoulders and brought her into his side.

"You. Are. Brilliant!" he exclaimed with a large grin. Strange sand, tree's that could be older than those in the Forbidden Forest or maybe not even known to the world he had grown up in. It was more than just some 'sand, trees and a few rocks'.

"Are you trying to tell me that's what we'll see when we go outside. Not the junk yard in Totters Lane?" Ian said.

"Oh yes," said Susan brightly. Unlike the smiles Harry had given her before this new one had added a twinkle to his eyes that she had never managed to do before. She was quite proud she had been able to produce it. "You'll be able to see for your selves soon."

"I don't believe it," said Ian flatly as he crossed his arms as he walked over to where Barbara was standing, near the coat rack off to the side of the room.

The Doctor sighed and turned to face Ian. "You really are very stubborn, aren't you, young man."

"All right, just you show me some proof, some concrete evidence." Ian looked sympathetically at Susan and Harry. "I don't want to hurt either of you, but it's time that we all were brought back to reality."

"Oh and your 'reality' was just so great wasn't it?" Harry asked sarcastically, removing his arm from Susan. He stalked towards his teacher. "Doing the same things day in and day out. No change, no adventure, nothing for you to do that would make you more than just another teacher. When you where little didn't you ever want to meet dinosaurs, fly to the moon? This is your chance, besides reality is overrated."

"I'm not a child anymore," he replied."I don't have time to believe in the delusions of an old man."

The Doctor sniffed indignantly. "He's saying I'm a charlatan! Just what could satisfy you?"

"That's easy. Just open the door, Doctor Foreman."

"Foreman?" muttered the Doctor as if he'd never heard the name. Ignoring the look that Susan had given him. "Foremen? What's he talking about now?" he asked rudely.

"They seem very sure," said Barbara as she leaned over to Ian to whisper out of the corner of her mouth while keeping her eyes on the others. "And remember the police box, the difference from the inside and outside."

"I know..."Ian looked challengingly at the Doctor as he puffed up his chest a little. "Well, are you going to open the door?"

"No."

The teacher's chest deflated as he looked from Barbara back to the Doctor in mild shock. "You see, he's bluffing."

Shaking her head Susan stepped away from the Doctor and watched. A small argument broke out between the Doctor and Ian. Barbara rolled of her eyes and gave a small shake of her head at the stupidity that was named Ian.

"Not until I'm sure it's safe to open them," said the Doctor patronizingly. He checked some more readings as he put his back to the others. "The air seems very good. Yes, it is, it's very good, quite remarkable. Unpolluted. Check the radiation counter would you, Susan."

Taking her spot back near the console, Susan check a few things and pressed a few buttons. "It's reading normal, grandfather."

"Good, good. I'll take a portable Geiger counter, just in case. So, young man, you still challenge me do you?"

"Just open the door and prove your point," said Ian wearily.

"You are really narrow-minded," said the Doctor with an air of insufferable superiority. "You must learn not to be so narrow-minded."

"Hey Doc, in the interest of the people that do believe you, would you mind telling us where we are," Harry asked, he may have been a Gryffindor be he would rather not be eaten and have to wait till he was digested to get away.

"Oh, we've certainly gone back in time my dear. A considerable amount, I think. Well we will know when we get outside. I'll take a few samples... some rocks a few plant life. Then I'll be able to really know when and where we are." said the Doctor as he looked away from him and back to the console in disapproval. "I do wish these instruments wouldn't keep letting us down thought."

"You really believe it all, don't you?" Asked Ian incredulously. "You really believe we've all gone back in time."

"Oh yes," said the Doctor

"And when we open the door, we won't be in a junk yard, in London, England, in 1963?"

"That is correct. Your tone suggests ridicule, young man."

"Well, of course, it's ridiculous! Time doesn't go round and around in a circle. You can't just step off where ever you like, in the past or in the future.'"

"Hey Mr Chesterton, since when was time a train?" Harry joked before turning serious. He shrugged his shoulders, "if the Doctor says we've gone back in time then, logically, since this is his ship, we probably have gone back in time."

"Harry, time simply does not work like that," Ian said patronisingly.

The Doctor shot Ian another look. "Oh? And what does happen to time then? Tell Me!" he ending up crying out.

"It's... well, it happens," he said vaguely as he ran a hand though his brown hair. "And then it's finished!"

Harry and Susan could see a condescending amusement in the Doctor's manner as he faced Barbara. "And what about you? You're not as doubtful as your friend, are you?"

"No, no, I don't think I am."

"Good! There's hope for you yet."

Ian sighed and shook his head in disappointment at Barbara, "Oh, Barbara. You're not really taken by these childish ideas, are you?"

Barbara shrugged her shoulders. "I can't help it, Ian. They all are so calm, so certain about themselves. I just believe them, that's all."

The Doctor stared at Ian once he turned back to face him. "If you could touch alien sand with your feet, hear the cry of strange birds, watch them wheel above you in another sky...would that satisfy you?"

Looking around to the others he threw back his shoulders and faced the Doctor's head once when the others had shrugged their shoulders at him. "Yes."

The Doctor reached out and threw a small switch as he faced them all with a small smile that made his old face look young. "Then see for yourself."

The TARDIS door slide open as the group faced it, Susan grabbed Harry's left hand while the Doctor walked in front as he watched as Ian stepped forward and stare outside in disbelief. "It's not true," he cried out. "It can't be!"

"That what I thought about magic to begin with," Harry mumbled to himself, too low for even Susan to hear.

With a smug smile on his lips the Doctor gave a small chuckle as Barbara tried to shake Ian's frozen body to bring him back out of his state.

~0~

What Ian could see beyond the door was a bleak and sandy plain, scattered with enormous boulders. It stretched to the edge of a dense, impenetrable forest. Well almost impenetrable if it wasn't for the small dark path that made its way through the trees. To the left of the forest were a few low rocky foothills that rose to merge with distant jagged mountains. Away on the right of both the mountains and just a little beyond the forest he could make out a glint of a broad and sluggish stream that disappeared into the forest and come out at the base of the foothills.

The plain in front of the TARDIS was scorched by the by the winds which made a constant, low moaning sound as it told a promise of a chilly winter that was heading that way. All in all it was a grim, forbidding scene that Ian wished he hadn't seen for his first glimpse outside the ship.

The Doctor sniffed in triumphant as him, Susan and Harry stepped up behind Ian and Barbara as she tried to shake Ian out of his shocked state.

"I'm going out a collect and update our samples and see how far we've gone back.' with that said the Doctor pushed Ian a little to the side to make enough room to get out. Finally enough room he strode out onto the plain as confidently as if he was still back at the junk yard in Totters Lane, and with a small wave over his shoulder he vanished behind the TARDIS.

Watching as her grandfather disappeared Susan stepped closer to Harry who placed his arm comfortingly around Susan's shoulder and gave her a small squeeze. "Be careful, grandfather!"

Barbara couldn't help but have a shiver of excitement swim through her body once Ian was moved over enough for her to see what had shocked him. Like and unlike Ian she was scared and amazed at what she could see.

"Let's go outside and look," she said as she stepped outside, pulling her coat closer around herself. The climate was colder than what she would expect of a desert/beach like landscape.

Harry, seeing his teachers frozen state and getting impatient with the lack of movement, dragged Susan to stand behind Ian before pushing him out of the doors. Stepping out of his embrace, Susan reached up with her closest arm and smacked him upside the head.

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed, pretending that it hurt more than it did to earn a small smile from Susan. Giving one last look at the TARDIS, he grabbed Susan's hand and pulled her playfully outside. The doors shut themselves automatically behind them with a mechanical hum.

"Well?" asked Susan, uncertain of her teachers. Ian was currently looking around in would could be described as disbelief. Barbara however was looking around in awe and fear, a bird screeching above her did little to calm her nerves.

"T-there must be some explanation," Ian said, turning to Barbara he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Barbara couldn't answer.

"It's still a police box," the Doctor said warily. He stood not too far from the rest of the group, who themselves were only a few paces from the TARDIS. "Why hasn't it changed? Dear, dear. How very disturbing." Turning to the group once more he glanced over Susan and Harry before taking off in the other direction to gather some samples.

~0~

As the Doctor walked away from the group he would occasionally look back to make sure they hadn't travelled away from his TARDIS. He dismissed his growing feeling of worry as unbalanced due to the decidedly unsmooth journey inside the ship.

Kneeling down, he opened the bag he had collected and started to gather the equipment he would need. Looking back in the direction of the TARDIS he missed the man coming towards him...

~0~

Back with the others, Barbara walked towards the skull of some animal. It was lying in the sand, already partly covered over by sand and completely devoid of any tissue. It was relatively large in size, perhaps similar to the size of a horse's skull. Bending down carefully in her skirt, Barbara picked it up to observe it.

"What do you think it could be?" she asked them although she was looking for the answer from Ian more than the children. Coming to kneel next to her, Susan started to wipe off the sand from on top. "Ian, look at this," Barbara said. With a sigh Ian joined them around the skull.

"I don't know," Ian replied to her previous question. Taking the skull off the girls he observed it. Harry, feeling left out, came to join them, leaving his position of looking out for the Doctor. "It hasn't got any horns or antlers," Ian continued, "could be a horse." He passed the skull to Harry before standing up.

"Is the rest of it down there?" Harry asked the girls. With a quick look in the sand no more skeleton was found, Harry sighed in disappointment. "Man wouldn't it have been cool to find a whole skeleton? Imagine the pranks we could have pulled with it, Halloween would never have been the same." Giving the skull back to Susan, he walked back to the TARDIS. Looking it over he couldn't help but notice that the sign on the door said pull however the way the door was designed the only way to open was to push.

"Incredible," Ian said, "a police box in the midst of..." he sighed. "It just doesn't make sense." Turning back to Harry and the TARDIS he wondered if he might of accidently drank something bad.

"Hey Susan, how come your spaceship looks so... earthy. Are police boxes a normal thing on your planet?" Harry asked. He agreed with Ian, having a police box in the middle of... wherever they were just wouldn't be ignored, people would surely notice. Mad Eye would probably have tried to blow it up if he so much as got a glance at it.

"It should have change," Susan replied in surprise. "Wonder why it hasn't happened this time," her speech quickened, Harry, having known her three months, knew this meant she was thinking either very fast or very deeply. She would often speak like that after Harry had done something she couldn't explain, such as how Harry would always appear when she needed him even though he should have been nowhere near her at the time.

"The ship you mean?" Barbara asked in confusion. After all before entering the TARDIS she was so sure that some things just couldn't happen but now doubt had took root in her mind.

"Yes it's been an Ionic column and a sedan chair," Susan replied happily, she was pleased that at least one of her teachers was taking this well.

"How on earth, or whichever plant you're on, do you exit a chair?" Harry exclaimed. "I mean yes I can understand a column as it can have a hidden door and a police box actually has a door but how does a chair work. It can't be you just sit in it, you'd get people falling in all the time." Harry couldn't help but joke at the end.

"Harry perhaps if you actually listened in history you'd know that a sedan chair consists of a chair or windowed cabin suitable for a single occupant, carried by at least two porters by poles," Barbara admonished, falling easily into being a teacher.

Harry flushed with embarrassment before mischievously smirking, "I can't help but not listen ma'am, I'm too detracted by your beauty." He laughed when Susan threw a conveniently close stone, luckily it missed him.

"So it disguises itself wherever it goes," Barbara said choosing to ignore Harry. Three months teaching him was enough time to know that he would keep talking like that if he knew it work to embarrass her. He did it with anyone.

"Yes that's right," Susan replied

"But it hasn't happened this time," Harry stated. Turning back to the box he place is hand against it. It looked like wood and felt like wood and would probably smell like wood but it couldn't be wood because it could change shape. Unless, Harry thought with a spark of hope, it was magic.

"I wonder why not," Susan pondered. Looking back at the skull on the floor she cheered up considerably. "Wonder if this old head will help Grandfather." She stood up with Barbara before looking around in confusion. "Where is he?"

Susan walked to Harry. Quickly looking around together they searched with their eyes for the Doctor.

~0~

Barbara walked over to Ian, "you're being very quiet." Ian sighed, not bothering to face her and show his defeat.

"I was wrong, wasn't I," he asked rhetorically. He didn't need someone to tell him, the sand under his feet told him all he needed to know. It should have been concrete not sand, scientifically it should have been concrete, he was a science teacher wasn't he? Barbara smiled to comfort him even if he couldn't see it.

"Oh, look, I don't understand it any more than you do. The inside of the ship, suddenly finding ourselves here. Even some of the things Doctor Foreman says-"she was cut off by Ian suddenly turning around to talk to her.

"That's not his name," he stated. "Who is he? Doctor who?" Both questions were rapidly asked before he turned back to look at the landscape and the children who we're both still trying to catch sight of the man in question. "Perhaps if we knew his name we might have a clue to all this," he finished softly.

"Look, Ian, the point is, it's happened," Barbara tried to conclude. They wouldn't find the answers between themselves.

"Yes it has," Ian said in frustration. "But it impossible to accept." He turned back to Barbara hoping that if she just saw how... impossible everything was she might understand him.

"I can't see him anywhere," Susan asked in worry as she returned to the two teachers. It effectively achieved what Barbara had just been trying to do, end the conversation.

"He can't be far away," Harry said as he joined the others again. "I mean old people can't get very far very quickly, no offense to them or anything."

Susan turned away from them to look back out onto the wasteland. "Had a feeling just now as if we were being watched," Susan explained. Seeing his friends discomfort, Harry placed is arm around Susan in his usual manner. There was a pained cry in the distance. Without thinking Harry took off towards it not even hearing Susan's worried cry or the others following him. He had a single purpose in mind, to help whoever was hurt.

~0~

Harry reached the area first. On the ground, scattered was the Doctor's bag and things. The samples had been carelessly dropped on the ground. A Geiger counter broken. The sand was marked with signs of two humanoids. There was no Doctor to be seen.

"Look," Ian pointed to the objects once he had reached Harry.

"Some of his things," Harry said calmly, the complete opposite of how Susan was looking.

"Grandfather, where are you?" Susan shouted in panic. Ian turned to Susan and in an attempt to calm her down, grabbed her shoulders. Panicking didn't help; Harry knew that from the war.

"Susan, don't panic," Ian said urgently. However Susan couldn't be calmed, her only family member she had apart from those at home, the only one she was able to see freely, was missing.

"I must find him," Susan shouted. "I must see!" Releasing herself from Ian, she ran in a random direction. Seeing this Harry quickly ran after her. It only took a moment to catch up and a few seconds to overtake and stop her from continuing.

"Harry let me go," Susan said desperately. She ignored Harry repeating her name. "I have to find Grandfather! I have to find Grandfather! I need-"

"Susan stop!" Harry said angrily. Immediately Susan stopped he struggles and looked up in shock. She'd never seen Harry get angry, not even at those that would make fun of her. It scared her; darkness seemed to have taken over his eyes. In a flash though it disappeared and Harry was her Harry again, all smiles and a devil may care attitude. "Come on we won't have any chance of finding the Doc if we run around like headless chickens. Besides who knows what could happen if we leave the others on their own." Without her even noticing Harry had already started to lead her back to Ian and Barbara.

"We couldn't find him anywhere," Harry said as they returned. Suddenly Susan dropped to the ground to pick up a book. Her breathing started to increase again.

"It's his notes. He'd never leave his notebook. It's too important to him. It's got the key codes of all the machines in the ship. It's got notes of everywhere we've been to. Something terrible has happened to him, I know it has. We must find him," Susan voice started to increase in volume again as finished talking. Desperation was seeping into her. Seeing this Harry wrapped both arms around her and brought her head against his chest. A few tears soaked his t-shirt.

"Susan, Susan. We'll find him, I promise you. He can't be far away," Barbara said comfortingly, stroking Susan back to try to calm her down.

"What's on the other side of those rocks?" Ian asked Harry. Harry took a moment to think back. He had mainly be focus on getting Susan but unconsciously he had still taken in his surroundings. Constant vigilance.

"There's a line of trees. There's a gap in them. There might be a path on the other side." He said helpfully. Ian started to gather up all the Doctor's things, including the broken Geiger counter.

"All right, we'll try there first. Come on." Ian said before pausing for a moment. There was something wrong... "Strange."

"What?" Barbara asked.

"This sand. It's cold. It's nearly freezing."

~0~

Children were playing in the cave. One was under a leopard skin while the others pretend to kill it. They were all too innocent to care about what the adults were doing.

Za and Hur were eating together in a corner away from the others. Many times one of the older men glanced at them both. Eventually Horg, an elderly man with short grey facial hair approached Za. Hur seeing him coming quickly gathered her things and left. She didn't want to be with her father.

"Kal says, where he comes from, he's often seen men make fire," Horg said as he kneeled next to Za.

"Kal is a liar!" Za barked in return before returning to the piece of meat in his hand. Horg carried on regardless.

"He says Orb will soon show him how it is done," he stated calmly. For him as long as there was fire that is all that matters. Fire was what will keep them alive.

"All his tribe died in the last cold. If he had not found us, he would have died too," Za dismissed, surely if Orb was going to show him how to make fire it would already have shown him.

"What else did he say?" Hur asked curiously. She had been sat just behind Za so that she could hear the conversation.

"He says Orb only shows the secret to the leader," Horg said breathlessly. Za paused in his chewing, quickly swallowing the food in his mouth to look at Horg.

"I am leader," Za stated strongly. "Orb will show me. I am the son of the great firemaker, but he does not show me how to put flames into the sticks. Kal comes. I do not kill him. I let him eat with us and sleep in our caves. I will have to spill some blood and make people bow to me." Suddenly there was a great commotion at the entrance to the cave. Again Za stopped eating. He left the cave to look. Kal stood before a large rock with an old man in odd clothing over his shoulder. Seeing everyone had gathered he laid the man over the rock.

"This is a strange creature," said Za after a moment of observation.

"Is Za, son of the firemaker, afraid of an old man?" Kal taunted Za and received a grunt in return. So he went for something that he knew would get more of a reaction, "When will Za make fire come from his hands?"

"When Orb decides it," Za answerd.

"Orb is for strong men," Kal argued. "Orb has sent me this creature to make fire come from his fingers. I have seen it. Inside, he's full of fire. The smoke comes from his mouth." Kal described the Doctor smoking from his pipe. In such a primitive time no one he has seen has smoked before.

"As lies come out of yours," Za taunted back. Turning back to the Doctor he looked him over once more. "He wears strange skins." Kal crouched down to the Doctor's level and gripped the unconscious mans shoulders.

"Za is afraid," Kal said to the crowd around them. "There was a strange tree. The creature was in it," Kal told everyone, explaining where the man had come from. Turning back to Za he looked him in the eyes before saying "Za would have run away had he seen it."

"Silence!" Za shouted, enraged at Kal. He tried to grab Kal over the body of the Doctor but he pulled away too quickly. Turning away from Za, Kal looked at the people around him. He brought his hands to his chest to look at his fingers.

"When I saw fire come from his fingers I remembered Za, son of the firemaker," Kal pointed at Za over his shoulder, not even bothering to look back at the man. "And when the cold comes, you will all die if you wait for Za to make fire for you," Kal stopped his walk to stand beside Za so that everyone can compare them together. "I, Kal, am a true leader. We fought like the tiger and the bear. My strength was too much for him. He lay down to sleep. And I, Kal, carried him here to make fire for you."

"Why do you listen to Kal?" Za asked in desperation.

"Za has many good skins. He has forgotten what the cold is like," Horg replied.

"Tomorrow, I kill many bears. You all have warm skins," Za tried, seeing all his people starting to dismiss him as leader.

"I say tomorrow you will rub your hands together and hold them to the dry sticks and ask Orb to send you fire. And the bears will stay warm in their own skins," Horg argued back. Za started to bring up his club in anger.

"What I say I will do, I will do," said Za.

"Hear me," screamed Kal. "I say that the firemaker is dead! You are no firemaker Za. All you can do is break dry sticks with your hands. But I, Kal, will make them burn – and I shall be leader!"

There was a moment of tense silence. Za could see the leadership slipping from his grasp. He could not use words cunningly as Kal, clouding the minds of the tribe. But he could kill...

Grasping his axe, Za poised to spring. Suddenly Hur shouted, "The creature has opened its eyes!"

The Doctor sat up, groaning, his hand to his head. "Susan!" he shouted. "Susan!"

~0~

Susan, Harry, Barbara and Ian where hurrying down the forest path, when Harry suddenly stopped, "Listen!"

"What is it?" asked Barbara.

"It was Grandfather's voice wasn't," Susan said excitedly. "You heard his voice didn't you."

"Yeah, it was very faint but I heard it," answered Harry. He turned to Ian to confirm. "You heard it, didn't you, Mr Chesterton?"

"I heard something... it might have been a bird or a wild animal."

"It was Grandfather," said Susan positively. "Come on we've got to find him! Harry, where did it come from?"

"This direction," Harry said before running off with Susan close behind.

"Harry, Susan, wait for us," shouted Ian. "Come on, Barbara." By now Harry had disappeared from sight with Susan close behind. They hurried after them.

~0~

As the Doctor came to his senses, his panic died down. He studied the savage skin-clad creatures crowding around him, saw the heavy, brutal features, the skin garments, the stone axes and spears. He saw Kal and rubbed his head gingerly, remembering how his attacker had sprung out on him, catching him unaware. 'Must have wanted to take me alive,' thought the Doctor. 'He could have shattered my skull like an egg-shell.'

The Doctor looked at the burly figure nearest him. He was the biggest, and strongest, so presumably he was the leader. "Where's Susan-"he began and then broke off. There was no point in making these savages aware of his companions. The Doctor grew silent, glancing shrewdly around him, trying to work out what was going on.

The bearded savage that had captured him seemed to be making some kind of speech. Even in the Stone Age, there were still politicians to deal with. The Doctor watched and waited.

"Do you want fire?" Kal shouted. "Or do you want to die in the cold?"

"Fire!" shouted the men of the Tribe. "Give us fire, Kal!"

Kal raised his hand for silence. "Soon the cold comes again, and now you have lost the secret of fire, the tiger will come again to the caves at night. Za will give you to the tiger, and the cold, while he rubs his hands and waits for Orb to remember him." He pointed at the Doctor. "This creature can make fire come out of his fingers. Kal brought him hear. He is Kal's creature!"

Za shouldered his way forward. "He is only an old man in strange skins. There is no fire in his body. The thing is not possible." He brandished his axe. "I say Kal has been with us too long. It is time he died!"

As Za advanced on Kal, Horg stepped between them. "I say there is truth in both of you. Za speaks truth that fire cannot live in men... and Kal speaks truth that we will all die without fire. If this creature can make fire, we must have it for the Tribe."

Daringly, Hur thrust herself forward. "Will my father listen to the words of a woman? It is easy to see where truth lies. If this old man can make fire come from his fingers, let him do it now, before all of the Tribe!"

There was a shout of approval from the crowd. Za glared angrily at Hur. He knew that she was trying to help him, that she knew Kal's claim was impossible. But Za knew that Kal was cunning. Impossible as it seemed, he would not have risked such a claim in front of the Tribe unless he could back it up. And if Kal's creature succeeded in making fire, Za's claim to leadership would be gone forever.

"I am the one who decides what is done here," said Za. "Not old me or women – or strangers."

Kal was quick to seize his advantage. "Perhaps Za does not wish to see fire made. Perhaps he is frightened. I, Kal, am not afraid to make fire. I will make my creature make fire for the Tribe. I will take the creature to the cave of skulls, and he will die unless he tells me the secret!"

Hurriedly the Doctor jumped up. "I can make fire for you," he shouted. "Let me go, and I'll make all the fire you want." Impressed the crowd drew back. "You don't have to be afraid of me," said the Doctor. "See for yourselves. I'm an old man. How could possibly harm you?"

"What does he say?" growled Za.

"Fire!" Horg said awestruck. "He says he can make fire for us!"

Suddenly, Kal saw his new advantage slipping away from him. "For _me_!" he shouted. "He will make fire _for_ me and _I_ will give it to you. _I_ will be firemaker!"

Just as suddenly, Za saw how he could turn Kal's own discovery to his own advantage. "If the creature makes fire he will make it for me and for all the Tribe."

The Doctor meanwhile was searching his pockets frantically. "Where are my matches? I must find my matches!" He knew he had them earlier, because he could remember lighting his pipe with them. He realised that his pipe was gone as well. Had he left them both when he was attacked? Or had his matches dropped out of his pocket when he was thrown over the savage's shoulder. Whichever the case, the matches were gone.

Za watched bemused, as the Doctor patted his pockets. "What does he do now?"

"See, he is Kal's creature," said Kal. "He will only make fire for Kal."

The Doctor abandoned his search in despair. "Take me back to my ship, and I'll make all the fire you want," he said hopefully.

Za swung round on Kal. "This is more of your lies Kal. The old man cannot make fire."

"There was a tree," said Kal desperately. "It came from nowhere. The old man came out, there was fire in his fingers. Smoke came out of his fingers."

The men of the Tribe were muttering discontentedly. With the Doctor's failure to perform the promised miracle, opinion began to swing against Kal.

Za seized his moment. Pushing Kal aside, he jumped on the rock himself. "Kal wants to be as strong as Za, son of firemaker. Yet all he can do is lie. You heard him say we would all have fire – and yet there is no fire. Za does not tell lies. Za does not say, "Tonight we will be warm," and then leave you in the cold. He does not say, "I will scare away the tiger with fire," and then let the tiger come at you in the dark. Do you want a liar as you chief?"

There were many shouts of "No!" Men began to glare threateningly at Kal.

Kal brandished his axe above the Doctor's head. "Make fire!"

The Doctor looked up helplessly. "I cannot."

"You are trapped in your own lies Kal," Hur said mockingly, moving closer to Za.

Za gave a great roar of laughter. "Look at the great chief Kal who is afraid of nothing! Oh great Kal save us from the cold! Save us from the tiger!"

Kal saw his hopes of leadership dissolving in the laughter of the Tribe. He grabbed the Doctor by his shoulders, lifting him almost off his feet. "Make fire old man! Make come from your fingers, like I saw today!"

"I can't," shouted the Doctor. "I tell you I've lost my matches. I can't make fire – I can't!"

Za was almost helpless with laughter. "Let the old man die. Let us all watch the great Kal as he fights this mighty enemy!"

Kal drew a stone knife from beneath his skins and held it to the Doctor's throat. "Make fire. Make fire or I will kill you now!"

"We will keep the great Kal to hunt for us," bellowed Za. "It is good to have someone to laugh at."

Kal raised his knife.

"No!" screamed a voice. Susan ran into the centre of the Tribesmen. She stumbled and fell at Kal's feet. Harry appeared in a flash and picked her up, placing her safely behind him. He watched everyone from the corner of his eye. He tensed slightly when there was movement and didn't relax even after he realised it was Ian and Barbara.

A Tribesman came up behind Ian, raising his axe above his head. He was about to strike when the Doctor shouted commandingly, "Stop! If he dies there will be no fire."

The Tribesman stopped his movement, looking at Za in confusion. "Kill them!" screeched Old Mother.

Za considered, "No. We do not kill them."

"They are enemies! They must die!"

Impressively, Za said, "When Orb brings fire to the sky, let him look down on them as sacrifices. That is the time they shall die – Orb will be pleased with us and will bring us fire. Put them in the cave of skulls."

Four of the strangers struggled however the last, the youngest male allowed himself to be dragged away. His stare unnerved Za, it didn't waver or stop, despite himself Za looked away first. Kal looked thoughtfully at Za and slipped away.

Horg put his hand on Hur's shoulder to move her away, but Za stepped down from the rock and took Hur's arm. "The woman is mine."

"My daughter is for the leader of the Tribe."

"Yes," said Za. "I am leader. The woman is mine."

Horg sighed. "I do not like what has happened. I do not understand."

"Old men never like when new things happen."

"In the time of your father I was his chief warrior. He was a great leader of many men." Horg replied.

"Yes, many men," Za said bitterly. "They all died when the Orb left the skies and the great cold was on the ground. Now the Orb will give me fire again. To me, not you. Just as you will give me Hur."

Consolingly, Hur said "Za too will be a great leader of many men. If you give me to him, Za will remember and always give you meat."

Accepting the inevitable, Horg bowed his head and moved away.

Old Mother stared broodingly at Za. "There were leaders before there was fire," she muttered. "Fire angers the gods. Fire will kill all of us in the end. You should have killed the four strangers. Kill them!"

Za stared at the gathering darkness. "I have said we will wait until Orb shines again. Then they die."

~0~

Arm s and legs trussed like animals, Harry, Susan, Ian, Barbara and the Doctor lay in a smaller cave, just behind the main one. After binding their arms and legs, their captors had hastily retreated, as if scared of staying longer. The door was simply a large rock that had been rolled shut. The cave was small and dark, it smelt of what Harry long ago had learnt was death. There where skulls arranged in pyramids on the ground.

"Is everyone ok?" Harry asked. "No one is hurt are they?" Quickly undoing his bonds with a bit of magic to make them too big for his hands and legs, he carefully made his way over to Susan. Only once he was happy she was unharmed did he start to untie Susan's hands. It was taking longer than his had though because he didn't want to use his magic and for her to notice. Boy could those savages tie a good knot. Didn't help that the rope was already wet.

"I'm all right," answered Ian. "Barbara, how are you doing?"

"I'm all right," Barbara's voice was trembling. "I'm frightened, Ian."

Ian could offer little consolation. "Try and hang on. We'll get out of this somehow."

There was hysteria in Barbara's voice. "How? How are we going to get out of it?"

"We shall need to be cunning," said the Doctor thoughtfully. He seemed remarkably spry after his ordeal, already he was struggling with his bonds. After a moment he looked at the others. "I'm sorry. All this is my fault. I'm desperately sorry."

"Grandfather, no," sobbed Susan. "We'll find a way out. You mustn't blame yourself."

"Yeah Doc, don't worry. I've been in stickier situations than this. Just wait a mo and we'll all be ready to make a great escape," Harry reassured.

Smiling slightly at the encouragement the Doctor looked at the skulls before frowning. He shoved on to Ian clumsily with his feet. "Look at that young man!"

Clumsily Ian picked it up with his hands. "It's a skull." He tossed it aside before picking up another one from the pile. He examined in carefully. "They're all the same," he whispered. "They've been split open!" He dropped it horrified...

Next time: The Forest of Fear


End file.
